It’s not often that events on a bookstore sales floor lead to a cascade of feelings about the execution of design. But, and I hate starting sentences with “but”, I was recently accosted by an English woman about how we Americans hand out plastic bags in a “willy-nilly” fashion. Here I thought I was being environmentally conscious in giving the customer a decision to choose “green”, but was simultaneously made hip-to something about professional America’s current position on conservation and recycling:

In the all-or-nothing world of business and design, we haven’t gone all-in when it comes to sustainability practices.  As students and designers of tangible objects, can we?

If one thing has become clear to me since entering the design program here at UTA, it’s that I constantly need materials. Display board, foam core, glues, tapes, inks, equipment, tools, electricity. All of these things add up to what translates a given concept into that special language we all speak in design, and subconsciously in the rest of the world. I ask though, what have we made when we’ve finally constructed our intricate package, finely printed poster, or sparkling gallery display? Is it sustainable? ( a frequently used word today) Was it worth the energy cost to produce it? Can we simplify our methods and perhaps makes a clearer message simultaneously?

I remember a number of years back when there was a crack-down on the size of computer game packages to decrease the space they would take up on a truck which would, in turn, reduce transportation needs, costs, and emissions. This kind of industry-wide leap, to me, feels akin to the cultural shift that hasn’t quite happened here in the United States. We often use plastics in packages that can’t be recycled, questionable coated papers, toxic glues, and engineer ideas that need to be printed , shipped, consumed and later disposed of in magical heaps of retail dung that are conveniently out of site or buried under golf courses.

That’s a grim picture to paint. I’ll admit that. So, what should we do? What can do?

It would seem that we should be practicing sustainable design now. We need to educate ourselves about economic design using non-toxic, renewable resources in an economic fashion.  There’s a world ahead that is full of interesting, innovative and intuitive technologies to bring us the world’s poster, web-sites, business cards, letterheads and the rest. We will live in a world where we see advertising and design almost exclusively on our cell-phones, e-book readers, or laptops where the cost is only your time and electicity needed to run the worlds increasingly power-efficient technologies. These innovations need to be supported. Why not make your next computer purchase that lower-power notebook made from aluminum that comes with complimentary recycling services for your old computer? Baby steps are still steps. Cut the fat. We’re smart. We don’t just draw what we see. We control what other see; when and how. Can’t we control the means to this end any better?

I am disappointed to confess to the possibility that maybe there is nothing “we” can do right this second. We’re students and interns. Our clients/teachers have demands that must be met, and our meager earnings can only afford the most mainstream technologies. In a way we are products of our culture, led by shifts made by those with enough money and an innovative approach (The Googles and Apples).

So, again, that question…

What can we do?  May I suggest…

Know what you’re really suggesting when you propose using that particular plastic. Understand what happens when that special paper sits in the soil for 15 years post-use. In a culture where we buy locally less and less, and live on petroleum, take into account how your idea is going to come to fruition, not to mention what it’s going to take to deliver it. 

P.s This is about the community. Correct me, comment, and contribute. I want to know more. And, even though Rick Moranis is nowhere in sight, I say, “Feeeeeeeeeed Me!”

Wikipedia – Sustainable Design
Greenprinter.com – One of many solutions I’m sure
Paper Crave
Celery Design
Wikipedia – Plastic Recycling

- Zach